One of the leading causes of accidents involving motorcycles is the failure of other drivers to see the motorcycle. A 1981 report (referred to as the Hurt Report) prepared by the University of Southern California analyzed motorcycle accidents. 74% of those accidents were with other vehicles. Of those, 50% were precipitated by other drivers who reported that they did not see the motorcyclist. Since a motorcycle (with driver) has a much narrower profile than other legal motorized vehicles on the road, their inherent design allows limited area for any lighting devices. Some studies claim that human depth perception is affected when a motorcycle is viewed amongst bigger cars and trucks, making the motorcycle seem further away than it is.
The largest percentage of motorcycle accidents occur with other vehicles at intersections with front or perpendicular approaching vehicles. Therefore, importance of being seen by others while operating a motorcycle cannot be understated.
The art has recognized the need to make motorcycles and their riders more visible to other drivers. Many have proposed providing lights on the back of the helmet which is worn by the motorcycle driver. Slarve in U.S. Pat. No. 4,559,586, Gouda in U.S. Pat. No. 4,891,736 and Rios et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,207,500 disclose motorcycle helmets having an auxiliary brake lamp and signal lamps on the back of the helmet. All provide a cable that runs from the helmet and is connected to the electrical system of the motorcycle. An obvious short-coming of these products is the cord, which can become tangled and impede the movement of the wearer of the helmet, particularly as he or she mounts and dismounts the motorcycle. A second shortcoming of these products is that the lights are all positioned on the rear of the helmet and each light has a relatively small surface area.
Harris in U.S. Pat. No. 5,040,099 and Foglietti in U.S. Pat. No. 4,956,752 provide motorcycle helmets having lights on the rear of the helmet. Rather than provide a cable, these products have a receiver in the helmet that receives signals from a transmitter on the motorcycle. In recent years there has been available a helmet brake light sold separate from the helmet. This brake light is attached to the back of the helmet by an adhesive and is sold under the name “The Signalfly.” This product also has a receiver which receives signals from a transmitter on the motorcycle.
It is also known to provide lights on the top or front of the motorcycle helmet which face forward and illuminate the path ahead of the motorcycle. Harris, Jr. discloses such a helmet in U.S. Pat. No. 4,195,328.
Although many types of motorcycle helmets with lights have been proposed, relatively little of the surface area of the helmet is illuminated by these lights. Moreover, the illuminated surfaces tend to be only a few square inches on the back or the front of the helmet. These lights cannot be seen, except by a person who is on a line perpendicular to the surface of the light or who is within a few degrees of that line. Consequently, there remains a need for a motorcycle helmet which is readily visible when illuminated and viewed from any angle.